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I went to the DMV to get my license reinstated and was told I had a failure to appear in another county. This happened 7 yrs. ago and I went to court for this and was told it would be added to my other tickets and I could leave. Now I am being told I can pay $450 in vl court. I don't want to plead guilty for failure to appear when I was there. What should I do?

Asked on 2/22/12, 6:49 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Most normal people would never consider performing surgery on themselves yet they feel competent to handle their own legal matters. Unless you know exactly what you are doing (which you clearly do not) you should never represent yourself in Court. This is a prime example of why you should hire a lawyer - even for a minor traffic ticket. If a lawyer screws up your case, you have someone to turn to and point the finger at. If you go and handle matters yourself ... well, you are experincing what can happen in that circumstance now and it is no fun - is it?. The best thing you can do is learn from your mistake, bite the bullet and hire an experienced traffic attorney to resolve this FTA for you. Based on your assertion that you were in fact in Court 7 years ago, it may be possible to have the FTA penalty stricken - this penalty is normally $200. Further, if you simply pay off this old ticket off yourself clearly without knowing what your doing and without consulting an experienced traffic attorney - it is possible you could receive further suspension.